So what everyone kinda knew coming is finally here. Jim Tressel is out as the head football coach at The Ohio State University. What started as some players getting tattoos for autographs has turned into allegations that Tressel lied to the NCAA, resulting in the resignation of one of the most successful coaches at Ohio State, if not college football history. But there's a story here that the mainstream media won't tell you, a story that everyone wants to ignore because it makes the world go around, and it doesn't just grow on trees. Money. I've learned in the last few years when there's a scandal or conspiracy, you can always learn quite a bit about the conspirateurs by simply following the money. And there's a shitload of money to be followed here.

College football players come to school on an athletic scholarship, granting them free tuition, room and board, money for books and lab fees, medical insurance, parking passes, and sometimes a per diem. None of the athletes can hold full-time jobs, some can't have any type of job, and if they are allowed to hold a job, it's got to be approved by the athletic department. However, the NCAA allows a stipend to be paid to players. You know, spending money for going to the movies, eating out, taking cheerleaders on dates, all of the things that college athletes do away from school. The limit for the stipend (I believe, I don't know the ACTUAL number, and I'm not reading the entire NCAA rule book to find out) is somewhere around 12,000 per year, but rarely do student-athletes get much more than that. The Kansas University Basketball program (Rock Chalk Jayhawk), one of the top programs in the nation, gives their basketball players a little over $7,000.00 a year, and there are usually only 12-18 players on scholarship at any given time. Imagine the trickle-down effect when it comes to the football program, where you have 85 scholarship athletes. The point here is that regardless of how much the scholarship pays for, athletes really have no way of earning any type of significant spending money. If they want to live off-campus in a pimped out co-ed bachelor pad, or buy a whip to ride dirty or to travel on the weekends, they're at a huge financial disadvantage to do so. Many athletes come from inner-city areas, so they can't call home to pops to get another deposit into the checking account like other college students can.

The NCAA and its athletic programs bring in around $6,000,000,000.00 every year. That's SIX BILLION FUCKING DOLLARS. The top 5 programs are Texas, Ohio State, Florida, Michigan and Wisconsin, and they all have MASSIVE athletic programs, and Football drives the financial bus at these institutions. Ticket sales, merchandise, concession sales, parking fees, TV contracts, and clothing endorsements (You didn't think Texas pays Nike for those uniforms, did you? It's the other way around!) all contribute to the athletic budget, and those funds are used to fund Title IX sports and other bullshit sports that earn absolutely no revenue. It's why the big boys rarely play more than four or five road games, because playing at home is much more lucrative. With all of this revenue, you'd think that the NCAA would carve out a little piece of the pie for the folks most responsible for the profits, the players. DO they? Nope! Since it's always been this way, people can't seem to fathom the idea of paying student-athletes. Until you start giving examples of how the NCAA has ruled against violators of it's ridiculously arcane rules.

AJ Green sold his game-worn jersey to someone. The same jersey he sees when he walks to classes at the University of Georgia, worn by his classmates. The same jersey on sale in the pro shop at Sanford Stadium. The same jersey available for purchase online through the University or Nike.com. So it's okay for the NCAA, the University of Georgia, and Nike to all profit from the success of AJ Green, but it's not okay for AJ Green to profit from the success of AJ Green? Nope! Four-game suspension for AJ, because not only did he sell his jersey, but because he sold it to someone the NCAA deemed an "agent".

Dez Bryant met with former Florida State and Dallas Cowboy star Deion Sanders. When asked by the NCAA about the meeting, Bryant lied, primarily because he didn't know what kind of trouble he would get in. The NCAA later found out that the meeting DID take place, and since it's somehow against the rules for collegiate athletes to meet with former professional athletes, the NCAA suspended Bryant for the entire 2009 season.

And the most recent story, concerning my beloved Ohio State Buckeyes. Some players traded some signed merchandise for some tattoos and spending money. Big fucking deal. But the worst part about it is that Coach Tress found out, and lied about it. He was trying to protect his players, but the almight NCAA was pissed that it had been lied to, and everyone expects them to issue severe sanctions against Ohio State. Tattoos and spending money, for some used gloves, pants, and little gold trinkets. That's it.

The kicker about the Ohio State story is that this surfaced just a couple of weeks before the Buckeyes were to play Arkansas in the Allstate Sugar Bowl, a nationally televised monster of an event. The NCAA, seeing that their golden goose might be in a bit of trouble, decided to act quickly. They suspended the players, then reinstated them, and suspended them for the first five games of 2011. Confused? I was too, until I realized that there was a lot at stake if Ohio State's best 3 players and a couple of other guys weren't going to be playing. Ratings would have plummeted, meaning ad revenue for the networks would have dropped, meaning the final check to the NCAA would have been much less that it could have been if the players had played. So they played, and it was a fantastic game, and everyone got a very nice payday. Now we're in 2011, and since the checks have cleared, the NCAA has went to work on the Ohio State Football program. Players are suspended. The coach has been terminated. And now an entire athletid program, one responsible for thousands of jobs, one responsible for the educations of hundred of student athletes, one responsible for a half a billion dollars in Ohio's economy, is a state of severe flux. They'll be fine, it's Ohio State.

Players sold some stuff for a bit of cash and some tattoos. BIG FUCKING DEAL.

Another note: To those who have been following the story will notice something here. They've been reporting on this since December, and really nothing new has come to light. The allegations are still the same, except the ones dealing with Tressel. It's the same story, rehashed, over and over and over and over again, because the news media knows that eyes like to look upon a scandal, and especially a scandal concerning the biggest athletic program in the country. A story that started because of a few "anonymous" sources, a story really only about a couple of athletes needing some cash, a story that probably happens in 50 or 60 programs around the country every day, sometimes including even WORSE NCAA transgressions, has got so much airplay because, just like when they're playing football, Ohio State attacts eyes. And the media will keep this playing on and on and on, until everyone's so sick of it, then they'll play it some more. It's good to be king. But the bigger they are, the harder they fall. Ohio State has fallen, but they'll be back.

A story that got a coach fired, a bunch of kids in trouble, and anonymous sources their 15 minutes of fame all could have been avoided. That is, of course if the NCAA finally realized that what they're doing these days by reaping in billions of dollars in revenue and not sharing any of it with the athletes that make it all possible, is really just a form of modern day slavery, and started to share the wealth with those that probably need it the most. Unfortuantely, the rich get richer. And until the NCAA and these big athletic programs revisit the stipend policy at these schools, this will continue happening. Kids will break rules to have some extra cash. Anonymous pussy cowards will dial up their local Yahoo.com or Deadspin or other half-assed mediocre sports blog to report something they saw. And coaches who are trying to protect their players from everything from concussions to boosters to failing a class will be terminated. The state of college football is crumbling. This is one way it can be saved. Pay these damn kids.